In this conversation, I was able to speak with Elma Begovic, the star, co-writer and producer for the short film "The Day We Left," a story about a family caught in the religious conflict of the Bosnian War, who flee to seek refuge in Serbia, with their enemies.
Featured image: Sera Lys-McArthur in Kwêshkosîw (She Whistles). (Courtesy of Fantasia.) As the Fantasia Film Festival wrapped up this past Wednesday, August 25, I still have some interviews to post from the festival, as well as a few smaller reviews of some of the short films that I saw at the festival. Those included She … Continue reading Fantasia Film Festival Short Film Reviews: Kwêshkosîw (She Whistles), Victim No. 6, Neo Cryptide, 10-33, Ryuk-Sa: A Teaser
Sometimes films are equally as entertaining as they are culturally important, and that’s true for the Canadian short film Kwêskosîw (She Whistles), an Indigenous supernatural thriller playing as part of the Born of Woman programme at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival. In the film, Stephanie (Sera-Lys McArthur) is on her way to girlfriend’s house and she hops in a taxi. On this episode of my podcast The Filmcraziest Show, I was joined by the film’s director Thirza Cuthand, who also writes and associate produces the film, as well as one of the film’s leads and producers, Sera-Lys McArthur.
In Aurora Brachman’s short documentary Joychild, it explores an 8-year-old child coming out as transgender to their mother. Through voice-over narration trying to put their feelings into words over footage of them playing, it’s a compelling short doc told in a unique way. Through e-mail, I was able to chat with Aurora about her short documentary, which is now available to watch on The New Yorker. Find that conversation here.
On this episode of The Filmcraziest Show, my guest was Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda, whose new film, a 24-minute documentary called Testimony of Ana is currently on the festival circuit, currently playing at the Krakow Film Festival (from May 30 to Sunday, June 6) in Poland after premiering at the Hot Docs Film Festival earlier this month. The film is about the life of Anaben Pawar, an elderly tribal woman accused of witchcraft in rural India.
Premiering today as part of the New Haven International Film Festival, Travis Andrade’s short film Wesley is a film about a young kid, the titular Wesley (played by Jacob Sandler), who encounters one of his brother’s friends who has a 3D printed gun, which Wesley would love to have as he worships his own toy gun. The film explores the impact of American gun culture on the developing psychology of an 12-year-old boy.
Before the festival – which runs from today, May 12 through Saturday, May 15 – I was able to have a back-and-forth conversation with Travis Andrade, the film’s writer and director, over e-mail. Find those questions and answers below, which has been edited for clarity:
Here's a review of Doug Roland's FEELING THROUGH, nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short, a film about a homeless teen making a profound connection with a DeafBlind man who's trying to get home.
On this episode of The Filmcraziest Show, I was able to talk with the filmmakers – director and co-writer Theo Rhys and co-writer and composer Joss Holden-Rea – behind the short film Stuffed, a musical about a taxidermist who dreams of stuffing a human, and she thinks she may have finally found her muse. The U.K. film premiered last month at the SXSW film festival and won the Special Jury Recognition award for Bold Vision at the festival. I was able to chat with them after the festival about their film.
I Am is a new short film from director Jerry Hoffman and writer Florens Huhn, the film follows the withdrawn Noé (Sheri Hagan), a woman who suffers from constant night terrors. On one of her morning walks, she finds a woman in the forest and takes her home. This woman, Ela (Melodie Wakivuamina), also happens to be an android. Noé takes her home and reactivates her, beginning a strange relationship which eventually gets a bit stranger as Ela starts to copy Noé, as the short film becomes an a unique tale about a robot and a woman.
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